English Literature

Lamb takes us to a fairytale land in “Dream children: A Reverie”.  The essayist’s children, John and Alice had gathered around him to listen to the story of their great-grandmother Field. She was a caretaker of a huge house in Norfolk. The place was fascinating and had carvings of the story of the Children in the Wood on the chimneypiece of the great hall. One of the new owners had torn it down. At this point, Alice gave a look that reminded the essayist of Alice’s mother.
The essayist goes on like this, describing childhood memories. He tells how the great-grandmother had been a religious lady, respected by all. Her funeral was attended by all the poor and also some rich. She had been a great dancer and had to give it up due to cancer, but nothing broke her spirit. She was a brave lady and would sleep alone in the house reputed to be haunted.
He then starts describing the house with the busts of great emperors. He would explore the house taking in the tapestry and the furniture and wander into the lovely garden. His narrative shifts to Alice and John, as it does throughout the essays. He describes how John is eyeing the grapes. He then goes on with Grandma Field’s story, how she loved all her grandchildren. But she seemed to have a special place in her heart for John L., their uncle. The essayist regrets that when he had been lame, their uncle had been very considerate towards him but when later on John L. became lame, the essayist did not show similar consideration. He was dead now. He loved him and missed him. As he went talking about Uncle John, the children started crying and asked him to stop.
They asked him about their pretty mother, who was also deceased. He told them about the courting, the denials and coyness, then as he suddenly turned to look at the little Alice, her mother’s soul shone through her eyes. Slowly, everything about her started looking like her mother and he became confused as to who was really standing before him.
The children started fading away, they said that they were not his and Alice’s children. “The children of Alice called Bartrum father. We are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been, and must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have existence, and a name”

The essayist wakes up to find that he had fallen asleep in the chair, with Bridget by his side. Everything had been a dream but John L was really gone forever.

The essay chokes me up everytime I read it. Alice stands for the girl he had loved, but she had not reciprocated. His ladylove had married Bartrum. He was left only with wishes and unfulfilled dreams now. John, his brother had passed away, adding to his sorrows. The only person left with him was his sister who was mentally unstable. This essay was written from the heart. There is no mask, the words come directly from within the essayist and reach out to the readers. Lamb is melancholic but what wins us to his side is that he is not for once self-pitying. The inter-play of sorrow and humour lend charm to the essayist. We feel the warmth of the man even after so many years, through his words.

The much adored and loved author, Charles Lamb, did not have an easy life. Born into a financially weak family, his struggle began early on. He was admitted into Christ’s Hospital, a free boarding school. It was here that he met Coleridge who was to become his long-term friend. Lamb’s terrible experiences in the boarding school and the violence he encountered there are narrated in his essays. In fact, the boarding school did produce a lot of famous literary figures, many of whom recount similar harassing environment of the boarding school. 

He was very close to his sister all through his life. Through Charles Lamb’s essays we come to understand that he was very attached to his family. His father, his grandmother, his uncle, sister, brother, etc., find mention in his essays. The small family rifts, the childhood memories, his preferred haunts all find a place in Lamb’s essays. 

Lamb’s life took a turn for the worse when his sister, allegedly driven by insanity stabbed their mother. She was declared insane and Lamb became her lifelong guardian.

Lamb, meanwhile was honing his skills as a writer. After many unsuccessful attempts, he brought out “Tales from Shakespeare”, along with Mary. It was an instant success. But what really brought Charles Lamb fame were his “Essays of Elia”. It is “Essays of Elia” that Charles Lamb is truly remembered for.

A man, surrounded by friends with literary inclinations and respected as a good critic, was finally to be recognised as a writer in  “Essays of Elia”.

In my next article I intend to cover one of Charles Lamb’s most famous essays- “Dream Children: A Reverie”. So, if you are wondering why “Essays of Elia” are considered the most lovable essays in the history of English Literature, maybe the next article will shed some light on it. 

Like most writers in English, before Shakespeare, not much information is available about Chaucer. It is thought that his father must have worked in some trade related to shoemaking, hence the name-Chaucer but nothing definite is known. The era in which Chaucer wrote was turbulent. There was war between England and France, the church was in a state of turmoil, the standard of health was falling and so was the morale of the people. There was moral degradation in the hitherto “Holy” ranks and people were growing sceptic.

Perhaps, it is this scepticism that is reflected in Chaucer’s work too. Perhaps his characters from “The Canterbury Tales” would today be considered stereotypes. But we have to bear it in mind that Chaucer wrote at a time when this kind of a writing style had not even been conceived of. He is considered “the father of English poetry” and also as “the father of English novels”. It can even be said that the two great genres of English- Poetry and Novel- gained form because of him and this is no mean achievement!

The Canterbury Tales –The Novel:

29 travellers, from different walks of life, come together with one purpose- a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Each of the travellers has to narrate 4 stories- two on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. What a marvellous plot! What a creative premise to bring together totally unrelated people from a vast spectrum of society onto a single platform! Even before the author begins, we know there will be a lot of variety. The description of each of the characters is a story unto itself. Though Chaucer did not complete his work- not all of the characters get a chance to speak-yet, the narrative is competently rendered. The stories that he brings out speak of human emotions, failings and grandeur, things that are relevant even today. As a novelist he successfully guides us through the narrative, never letting the pace slacken, each bit well inter-linked with the other.

The Canterbury Tales –The Poem:

The beautiful lyrical quality of the poem, the carefully selected words, the amazing imagery- all make the Canterbury Tales a reader’s delight. We fall into the rhythm of the narrative right from the beginning.

“Whan that Auerylle with his shoures soote

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote

And bathed euery veyne in swich lycour

Of which vertu engendred is the flour”

The description is sheer poetry. He looks at April, not as a prose writer but as a poet. He speaks of the showers, the leaves, the dry earth, now touched by rain, the scenery- all with immense lyrical excellence

The obvious reason to call this a poetry, though, would be the rhyme and metre of the poem.

Readers, unfamiliar with Middle English, might feel that his words do not rhyme.  But we have to remember that our modern pronunciation is very different from Chaucer’s times.

Conclusion

The work is a commentary on the society of Chaucer’s times. The characters, though crudely described and stereotyped, do succeed in drawing a picture in our mind. As each person is described and the as every story is narrated, we can almost see the narrative in our mind’s eye. Witty, sarcastic and cynical, Chaucer spares no one. His portrayal of human weaknesses does not seem to age, they seem to hold true even today. The method may have changed but the emotions behind them remain the same.

Chaucer, with his Canterbury tales did not just leave behind a work of literature; he left behind a storehouse of knowledge, a lesson in History, a reference material for Middle English and an essay on human nature.

It is difficult to say when exactly the English language started. Some say it could have started with the Celts, the original inhabitants of what is now called England. But it is largely accepted that we can trace the origins of this great language to the Anglo-Saxons, who occupied the country. From then on, English language grew and evolved, borrowing liberally from anyone it met. In fact most of the major languages in the world have contributed to the growth of English! Greek, Latin, French and German were some of the earlier languages to donate their vocabulary to English. When England had a French ruler for a period of time, French was given precedence over the native English. French was the “court language” and hence the aristocracy spoke French while English became the layman’s language. Then came the era of colonization, this brought in words of African, India, West Indian and other origins. The industrial revolution, the world wars and the current burgeoning technology have all contributed to enriching this language. Though the London English was standardized, there was no way the scholars could check its growth. Wherever the British went, they left English behind. English has thus become a world language with as many versions as the regions in which it is spoken. It is due to its ability to adapt and adopt that the language is still alive and still developing.